Semiconductor device and method of making the same



y 2, 1961- B. G. BENDER E'TAL 2,982,892

SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME Filed June 11, 1958 Bob G. Bender, William B. Warren,

INVENTORS.

-AAL;

A 7' TORNE Y.

nite States SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE AND METHOD or MAKING run SAW V Bob G. Bender, Garden Giov nna Warm n. "Warren, Los, Angeles, Calif assignors to Hughes Aircraft Company, Culver City, Calif., a corporation of Dela- ..Wal'e. v

Filed June 11, 195s, set. N 741,270 4Claims. Cl. 317-234 element for mounting, or by utilizing pressure upon the semiconductor body as by .a spring inorder to retain it in. place.

do .so by means .of a contact element which is held in place upon the surface ,of a semiconductor body .by

spring pressure 'that is inherent within the contact element, by .welding,.such as the welding of a point contact atent soldering the semiconductor body to-a post or other a In-order-to provide electrical contact to the body other I than by the mount therefor, it has been customary to whisker to the semiconductor body, by solder orlby a J thermosetting resin about the point of contact upon the semiconductor body.

While the above ways of mounting providing electrical contact have proved successful in manyiapplications, certain disadvantages have resulted. When;-

thermosetting compoundsare utilized contaminants .to

the surface of the semiconductor body are many times sealed within the package. Utilizing .pressureonly to '-maintain contact has often resulted in'unwanted noise being generated when the deviceis subject tovibration By soldering a low survivaltempera- When Welding is used or acceleration. ture is imparted to the device.

-a relatively high temperature is imparted to a portion of the semiconductor body'which often causes :thatportion I of the surface of the body tofdeteriorate. I v

Furthermore,;by utilizing the above ways of anchoring a semiconductor body within a" housing theitefon or to make electrical contact to otherparts of the"semiconductor body,,many.addit ional steps arerequired inthe manufacture ,of the device. For example, where a' thermcsettingcompound used to anchor-"the body, Y ;,the body must be handled, separatelyjto applythecompound and the combination,. must thereafter be baked .for a predetrmined'tirrie.on'theorderloij'hours to .set i the compound and drive ofi'the volatileeletnents therein. YQ'If solder is used, it must be separately applied and "flux is calledfor to obtaingoodwetting. By. utilizing these ';ways, tliereiore, much timeisexpended oneabhd'eVice jin-themanuacture thereof. I

w'Accordinglyiiit is iamobjeci p t inventio l to provide. a v Semiconductor device I which remains stable at I 1high temperaturessand, -therefora provides ihigh l op irating and.,survival temperatures forsemibnductor devices;

lltidseanothe r pbject o f the present linyentionrto provide aeems conductoridevice sfrom which contaminants have be: encludedduring.theiinanufacturethereof;

fre under.ekt eme...acceleration. and vibration.

,stiltanother obj ct, of; the present inventioii to 70 idea semiconductor device .which is substantially noise V anc'eflwith the present invention.

illustratingmore in,idetail,.a portion of the device as Ffatented May 2, 1961 It is a further .object of the present invention to provide a method of making semiconductor devices which eliminates the necessity of bringing contaminating matter into contact with the semiconductor body.

, It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a method .of making semiconductor devices'which is more efiicient than heretofore known to the art.

It is yeta further object of the present invention to provide a method of making semiconductor devices which produces more reliabledevices than heretofore known to the art.

A semiconductor device. in accordance with the. present invention includesa member containing cadmium which is alloyedinto atleast a portion of anelectrical conductor The body is aflixed to the pedestal by an additional alloy which contacts both the body and the pedestal and which includes thematerial from the pedestal. An electrical contact element is in contact with at least a portion of one surface of a semiconductorbody and an alloy is provided whichcontacts the semiconductor. body and the electrical contactelement and which includes as a constituent thereof cadmium whereby the contact element is bonded to the surface ofthe semiconductor body.

The method in accordance with the presentinvention includes the steps, of alloying an element including cadmium to a member contained Within a housing for asemiconductor body. A layer of metal adapted to form,an alloy with the element isfthenapplied to contact the body and eiement and is then alloyed with said element Other andrnore specific ol aj'ects oi the "presentinvention wilibecome apparent from. a "consideration of the liollowing descriptiontaken inconjunc'tion with the accompanying drawing whichis presented by way of illustration only and is not intended asllimiting the scope .of'this invention, and'in which: v Fig-1 is a schematic diagram partly .in c ross section illustrating an encapsulated device. constructed in accord- Fig. 21s aschernati d'a'gram partly'in cross section 'shown in Fig-.1 a d..."-

Figs. 3 and 4 are schematic diagrams partly cross seclt ionof alternativeembodiments of semiconductor devices at intermediate stages of manufacture in accordance with [the method ofthe present invention.

" Figs. .5 and 6 are schematic diagrams partly cross "section .of alternative embodiments .of semiconductor de- "vices in accordance w'iththe'presentinvention.v

Reterringnow toQthe drawing and more part'cularly to Fig. Lthere oftthere is showna semiconductor, diode 1-1.

' .Diode l'if iiicludes iafhousingflz which encapsulatesa semiconductor body audits electrical contacts.- Housing 12 maybe constructedgfroni an insulative material, such as as. asi a si "Eis-v .l a'w be und rs ody however, thata housing-may be constructed of any rnaterial iwhich is'desired. ifaglass package, suchas shown 1. 1 re .31 tiliz v ma i emj t s fscribed pin Patent No. 2,736,847., issued. to ;s Barnes .on February. 2.8, 1956-. ,;Electrical conductors. 13 m 17 rp' et 'ud r ushl'an i t ho s n .12 a ipro id be l j metic seal. 7

i g. Attached to .electricai 'conductor or lead" for the semiconductor .diode contained within 7 iernberorpedestal 14 upon which sen'iiconduictor body li 'is mhunted. An electrode. 15. isafiixed to:.1ead v 1"7 and makes, contact gwith v.the :upper surface pfwsemij conductor body 15.1 Electr,o,de .1'6 may be aspring as shown which takes' the form of'a 0, or in thealternative fit" maybe is-is haped, straight or atypical. point contact I or awhisker electrode suchas is vpresently w'ell known in the fart.

v. R'i ii w nior'e'particularly'to Fig.2, the internal .cadmium. .fore, layer 21 on lead 13 may include at least one of 3 portions of device 11, as illustrated in Fig. 1, are shown more in detail. As illustrated in Fig. 2, lead 13 contains an, outer coating 21. Outer coating 21 is a material which will alloy with the material utilized for member 14 and may be applied to lead 13 by any means known to the art such as, for example, plating, evaporating, dipping, cladding and the like. 'In the alternative, lead 13 may be constructed entirely of materialwhich will alloy with the material of element 14. Element or pedestal 14 includes as at least one of its constituents the element In the presently preferred embodiment, thereantimony, lead, nickel, silver, gold, copper, tin, zinc, alurninum or magnesium.

Semiconductor body =15 which, as illustrated in Fig. 2,

includes a semiconductor crystal 22 having therein a region 23 which is of the oppositeconductivity type from crystal 22 and in contact with region 23 an alloy 24 consisting of atoms of the semiconductor crystal and of the material deposited thereon .to form region 23. A

semiconductor body as illustrated in FigQ 2 may be constructed in accordance with Paten t No. 2,789,068, issued to]. Maserjianon April 16, 1957. While such a semi conductor body is illustrated in Fig. 2, it is to be expressly understood that the body may take any form presently known to the art and may be constructed by any method presently known to the art such as, for ex ample'fusion, difiusion, particle bombardment, and the like in order to form junctions or may simply be a body of semiconductor material having a whisker element in 'noint relationship therewith. The semiconductor body isbrought into contact with pedestal 1'4 and. a slight pressure is exerted therebetween. The body and the pedestal in combination are then heated to a temperature that an alloy is formed including material from the pedestal .14 whereby body 15 is bonded to pedestal 14.

The formation of this alloy ismore fully explained hereinbelow.

An electrical contact element 16 is afiixed to lead 17. This may be done, for example, by resistance welding 1 techniques which are presently known to theart. Whisker 16 may be constructed from any material presently,

known to the art which will provide good electrical conduction between lead 17 and the semiconductor body.

Such materials may be, for example, platinum, copper,

aluminum, silver. and thelike. Contact element 16 is affixed to the surface of the semiconductor body by an al I loy as shown at,26 in Fig. 2. This alloy contacts vboth element '16 and the semiconductor body and bonds the element to the surface of the body. Alloy .26 maybe formed by any method presently known to the art. Howvention. itjh'a's" been found .that'gold works exceedingly well as the material to alloy with" the cadmium contain- T'in'g layer 'of material upon element 16. The thickness of the gold whichjis applied to the semiconductor body is not considered 'to be critical solong' as suff cient ma- 1' Iterial is provided to obtain alloying'with thefmate rial :applied to element '16'and it has been foundthat approximately 0.2 mil in thickness is sufficient.

element and the semiconductor body arethen brought together and heatedto a temperature above the eutectic temperature of the gold and the cadmium but below the 1 temperature at which deteriorationof the semiconductor device components will begin. alloy isthereby The contact formed between the element 16 and the semiconductor body. The combination is then cooled to solidify the alloy and provide a bond between the two elements. A eutectic alloy is formed in most instances.

Alternatively, element 1'6 may be made of cadmium thus eliminating the application of a layer of material to the element. Furthermore, it oftentimes becomes desirable to apply a doping material during or before an alloying process in order to assure that good ohmic contact is made between the contact element and the semiconductor body. If such is desirable, this may be accomplished by applying the doping material to the layer of gold which is deposited upon the semiconductor body or by applying the doping material to the contact element 16. I

Pedestal 1'4 is alloyed to lead 13 to provide a connecbetween pedestal 1'4 and lead 13 is illustrated at 25' and I the formation thereof is more fully explained hereinafter.

' Semiconductor body '15 is attached to pedestal, 14 by .an alloy as shown at 28 in Fig. 2 and more fully explained hereinafter. Alloy connections 25 and 28 are in the presently preferred embodiment eutectic alloys.

Although each of the materials listed abovehave been found to work well in the formation of analloylwith vide excellent bonds,

cadmium, tin and lead should not be used'if it becomes desirableto produce a semiconductor device which has a survival temperature of the order of 300 C. Under such 'circumstances'the remaining materials listed pro- In order to provide an indication of. probable temperature limits of devices constructed with the various materials above set forth but without restricting the scope of the present invention, the followmgtable 1s provided:

' Percent Eutectic Material Alloyed with Cadmium Cadmium in Temperature, Eutectic Degrees 0'.

L 17.5 248 Antimony 92. 5 290 Nickel 97. 5 318 Silver 93-97 343-400 Gold 88 309 Copper 88 314 Tin 67. 75 170 Zinrr 82.5 265 AIuminum 21%; Magnesium 53%..- 26 420 liteferring. now more particularly to Fig. 3, there is shown a device of the present invention in one of the first steps of manufacture in accordance with the method of the present invention'whe'reby the pedestal 14 is aflixed to .lead13.

.A slug 31 of cadmium or of an alloy of cadmium and one of the materials above listed may be placed upon lead 1313s containedwithin an open-ended, portion 33 of the encapsulating means'12 as illustrated in Fig. 1. A weight 1 32' is 'then inserted within the open-ended encapsulating means to rest upon the slug of material 31 and to exert It has been found slight pressure between it and lead 13.

' that approximately 2 grams is suifi'cientto enable weight ,32 .to apply the" needed pressure.- [This combinationis 1 then passed through aifurnace, such as a typical tape furnace, wherein the temperature israised to above the melting point of the slug of material in order, to cause it to melt and assume the shapefas shown in Fig. 1 or'Fig. 2.

f Upon melting, itwill also dissolve that p'ortionof coating fzlupon'lead '13, as showninfFi g. '12, which it contacts thereby forming an alloy mixture between the two materialsrwhich is preferably an eutectic alloy. If, for example, coating '21 upon lead 13 is copper and pedestal 14 '18 constructed of cadmium, the temperature to which the combination would be raised would be approximately 321C; Preferably, it has been found that the temperature cycle within the tape furnace should be adjusted so that the rise to 321 C. is at a rate of about 25 C. per minute. The temperature of 321 C. should be maintained for about 2 minutes. The combination is then cooled at a rate of about 25 C. per minute to thereby form an eutectic alloy bond as illustrated at 25 in Fig. 2 between pedestal 14 and lead 13.

After slug 31 assumes the shape desired, as shown at 14 of Fig. 1, and is alloyed to lead '13, weight 32 is removed and a semiconductor body is placed upon the flat surface of element 14. Prior to this a layer of metal which is adapted to alloy with element 14 is preferably applied to the surface or the semiconductor body which is to contact element 14. This may be done by any means known to the art but plating is presently preferred. If gold is used as the metal to alloy with element 14, about 0.2 mil in thickness has proved adequate. Thereafter weight 32 is replaced and the combination is heated to a temperature above the eutectic temperature of the metal applied and the element 14. If gold and cadmium are used, the eutectic temperature is 319 C.

Alternatively the above two steps may be carried out simultaneously by placing the semiconductor body upon slug 31 prior to the first heating. After the body is alloyed to element 14 which is in turn alloyed to lead 13, the contact element may then be alloyed to the other surface of the body to provide a completely alloyed unit as shown in Fig. 1.

By now referring to Fig. 4, it may be seen that the entire device may be constructed by one pass through the tape furnace. This is accomplished by leading slug 31 upon lead 13, the body 15 upon the slug and then bringing contact element 16 into contact with body 15. Lead 17 and contact element 16 are advanced suificiently to provide the desired pressure and then the housing is sealed. Thereafter the sealed housing is passed through the tape furnace to cause complete alloying of the internal parts of the device to provide the stable finished product.

Referring now more particularly to Fig. 5, there is shown an alternative embodiment of a semiconductor device employing the present invention and as illustrated therein a mounting member 41 is provided, having a stud 42 provided with threads 43 attached thereto. Stud 42 may be utilized to attach the completed semiconductor device to a chassis or other member for further utilization, and operates also as a heat sink. Aflixed to mounting member 41 is a semiconductor body 40 which includes a semiconductor crystal 44 having a region 45 of a conductivity type opposite to that of the crystal and attached to region 45 is an alloy region 46. The semiconductor body, as shown in Fig. 5, may be constructed in accordance with the method described in conjunction with Fig. 2 above.

Semiconductor body 40 is aflixed to mounting member 41 by alloying as above described. A layer of cadmium of an alloy of cadmium and one of the above metals is preferably applied to member 41. r A layer of one of the above materialswhich will form an eutectic alloy with cadmium is placed upon the body 40, preferably gold is used. The body 40 is then brought into contact with member 41 and heated to form an alloy as shown at 51.

Alternatively, however, member 41 may be formed of This alloy is formed by placing a layer of cadmium, or an alloy thereof, on body 40and then contacting lead 48, which will have at least the end portion thereof coated with one of the materials above listed, with body 40. Thereafter the combination is heated to form the alloy. Alternatively the lead 48 may be constructed entirely of one of the above listed metals and cadmium may be ap plied thereto.

Referring now more particularly to Fig. 6, there is shown a transistor which includes a semiconductor body 61 having converted regions 62 and 63 of opposite conductivity type from that of the body. Alloy buttons 64 and 65 are in contact with converted regions 62 and 63, respectively. Leads 66 and 67 have contact elements 68 and 71 afiixed as by resistance welding thereto, respectively. These contact elements are alloyed to buttons 64 and 65 to form a positive contact as hereinabove described and as shown at 72 and 73. Additionally a mounting member 74 is alloyed to the semiconductor body as shown at 75 and hereinabovedescribed.

There has thus been described a semiconductor device wherein all the internal elements are alloyed together to provide a stable device which is free of contaminants and noise. There has been described the method of manufacturing such a device.

What is claimed is:

1. A semiconductor device comprising: a semiconductor body, a mounting element for said body, first and second electrodes, a first eutectic alloy between said mounting element and said first electrode, a second eutectic alloy between said body and said mouting element, and

a third eutectic alloy between said second electrode and said body, each of said alloys including cadmium.

2. A semiconductor device comprising: a silicon semiconductor body, a mounting element for said body, an electrode for making electrical contact to said body, a first gold-cadmium eutectic alloy between said body and said mounting element, and asecond gold-cadmium eutectic alloy between said electrode and said body.

3. A transistor comprising: a silicon semiconductor body having first and second regions therein of a conductivity type opposite to that of said body, first and second alloy buttons in contact with said first and second regions, respectively, a mounting member for said body, first'and second electrodes, first and second cadmium-gold eutectic-alloys between said first and second buttons and said first and second electrodes, respectively, and a third cadmium-gold eutectic alloy between said mounting element and said body.

4. A semiconductor device comprising: a semiconductor body, a pedestal including cadmium for mounting said body, a first electrode, a eutecticalloy including cadmium between said first electrode and said pedestal, a second eutectic alloy including cadmium between said body and said pedestal, a second electrode, and a thirdeuteotic alloy including cadmium between said second electrode and said body. a

References Cited in. the file of this patent Schnable Feb. 10, 1959 

